Nearly six months after Daily Report learned Dat Dog scrapped its plans for an Arlington Marketplace location, the New Orleans gourmet hot dog franchise is revitalizing efforts to expand its footprint to Baton Rouge.
On Monday, Sept. 30, Dat Dog announced it is seeking local franchisees to open restaurants in Baton Rouge, planning to add two locations in the city as part of CEO Paul Tuennerman’s growth plan for the brand throughout the South.
“I know that the people of Baton Rouge will embrace the Dat Dog brand and culture,” Tuennerman, a former Raising Cane’s executive, writes in a prepared statement.
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The new search comes two-and-a-half years after Dat Dog announced it would enter Baton Rouge, at the time planning three locations for the market. But the company pulled the plug on the planned Rouses-anchored Arlington Marketplace location near LSU because the strip center space wasn’t the right fit, Tuennerman previously told Daily Report.
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Including a franchise fee of $50,000, the total investment necessary to begin operation of a Dat Dog franchise is between $992,000 and $2.8 million.
The brand currently has five locations in New Orleans, Lafayette and College Station, Texas, with other deals in various stages of development.
This story originally appeared in Daily Report on Monday, Sept. 30.